Strange History.net brings us the movie-worthy story of Cornelia Fort, an upperclass girl from Nashville, Tennessee whose father made one critical mistake when he called his three sons into his study and made them swear a solemn oath on the Bible that they would never take to flying aeroplanes.

He didn’t think it would be necessary to ask Cornelia to swear it too. And in 1940, at the age of twenty-three, Cornelia did begin flying planes, and in a matter of months was employed as a flying instructor in Honolulu, Hawaii. Which is how she found herself in one of the small handful of civilian planes that were the only American aircraft in the skies on the morning of December 7th, when Japanese aircraft and submarines began the Pearl Harbor attacks.

Okay, so maybe that title is a little hyperbolic… the NRO, or National Reconnaissance Office, coordinates the launching, targeting, and use of the United States’ spy satellites, as well as the analysis of evidence collected form them and other aerial surveillance sources. It’s a big part of the Department of Defense and our intelligence (read: spy) operations in this day and age, and works closely with such governmental groups as the NSA, CIA, and the awesomely named National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. As a part of the intelligence community in the US, it’s part of a community with a very sturdy glass ceiling. Up until last week, the only woman to ever lead a major intelligence agency was Letitia Long, current director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. But now Betty J. Sapp, formerly of the CIA, has been promoted from her position as principal deputy director at the NRO to Director, making her the first woman to head the fifty-two year old organization.

As any Batman fan will tell you, there’s a wide selection of Batmans to choose from for all your Batman needs. As to how many of them are fit for a kid’s birthday party, well, I’d got with Adam West!Batman, The Brave and the Bold!Batman, or maybe even George Clooney!Batman.

Just… not All Star Batman and Robin!Batman. Definitely not him.

(via /Film.)

A collaboration between J.R.R. Tolkien and Charles Dickens may not have ever occurred to you. I mean, aside from the fact that the span of their lives happened almost exactly at a distance of one hundred year’s from each other, they’re also quite different writers. Dickens pioneered the serial novel and was always willing to allow the reactions of his audiences to sway the course of his stories, while Tolkien labored long years polishing complete manuscripts to his exacting specifications.

Don’t worry, it’s not as if anyone has unearthed a time-travel-produced manuscript of The Tale of Two Towers.

The British National Army Museum recently ran an online poll to let the world choose the finalists (but not the winner) of the title of Britain’s Greatest Foe, giving the world twenty international historical icons to choose from, just so long as their lives happened no earlier than the 17th century (the earliest years covered by the museum) and that they also led an army, from the field, against British troops. This, naturally, disqualified a lot of folks from the running (Hitler comes readily to mind), but left some pretty impressive historical movers and shakers like Napoleon, George Washington, and Andrew Jackson. Among them there was only one woman, but someone we’ve mentioned briefly before: Rani Lakshmi Bai, or the Rani of Jhansi; who’s been described as “the Indian Joan of Arc,” “the bravest and the best,” and “the most dangerous rebel leaders” of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, by her enemies. Above, is just one of the statues of her that stand in India today.

Here’s the deal with her:

Back in March, we posted a really interesting recruitment video from video game developers Electronic Arts. They showed a video game marketer, developer, and publisher – all women – talking about how they got their start in the business. We thought it was a really great way to show young women some unique career opportunities. And then the video was removed. We have no idea why but apparently EA is still actively on the hunt for women to work at their company and for them to play their games. Why? They may finally be realizing the marketing potential, but the industry still has a long way to go and not everyone is sure actively seeking out women for programming jobs is the way to go.

The Wall Street Journal reports on an interesting trend in the international tech community: one where 40% of the “pitch contests” of start-up/entrepreneur conference ArabNet in Beirut were presented by female entrepreneurs. Oasis 500, a program dedicated to developing digital startups in Jordan says that while only 25% of its applicants are women, 40% of those it accepts are women. In comparison, “while New York City has almost double the female founders of Silicon Valley and London, they still comprised just 20% of start-ups.” Why are women in the Arab world claiming greater percentages of online businesses?

The answer is both depressing and hope inspiring, depending on which way you look at it.

Don’t worry, we haven’t reverted into Mean Girls territory, this is a list Kimmie Britt (aka killerrqueen) made up herself. She’s a contestant in Maxim Magazine’s Gamer Girl contest. The woman with the most votes will get “exposure in Maxim magazine and Maxim.com, an all-expense paid trip to VIP gaming event(s), and a potential contract to become a Virgin Gaming spokesmodel, just to name a few,” according to the website. But Britt is wondering about her chances considering some of the current entries so she made this video as a response. Check it out (along with her page), the contest ends May 25.

Prime World is an upcoming entry to the action real-time strategy genre, a style of play where small teams of players compete to capture or destroy the others base. Each player pilots a “hero” that levels up as each match progresses, and the variety in the game is fueled by different maps on which to play and an array of heroes with different abilities to choose from. They’ve recently announced their commitment to bringing in new players, and making it easier for their enthusiastic players to bring in friends and loved ones who might be less familiar with the game. That’s a smart business decision.

The way they’re implementing this is by giving players a mechanically beneficial in-game bonus to people who group with a player of the opposite gender (yes, a player, not a character, more on that in a moment), and by giving female players discounted prices on DLC that offers more heroes to choose from.

I’m probably not alone when I say: “Thanks, but no thanks.”

The Trivers-Willard hypothesis is a theory that states that in species that don’t mate in pairs but polygynously (males mate with many females), evolutionary pressure will have created reproductive biology that responds to periods of easy living and periods of hard living by actually skewing the normal 50% chance of producing offspring of one sex or the other. In good times, things would skew towards male offspring, because the easier it is to raise a healthy kid, the better chance your genes have of becoming that dominant male that gets to reproduce with lots of females. In bad times, however, things would skew towards the female. If raising the best male is a longer shot, at least a healthy female will get to reproduce with the healthier males.

Both ground squirrels and red deer populations correlate with the theory, and now, at least according to a study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society, humans do too well. And yes, we’re generally considered to have descended from polygynous apes.